Yes, our first outside show at Nomad! We've done a few outside shows before, at Creekside and Red Scoot Inn among others I might have forgotten, but this was the first time in quite a while. Six weeks since our last show and I really missed the KU!

Hannah stayed home with Sylvan this time, but my friend Ray was there early to provide a badly needed power strip (like, a serial electrical outlet) and most of my friends in Coma In Algiers were there as well to provide some badly-needed singers early on in the show. Ray sang The Fall's version of Victoria and his friend "Dexter" sang Psycho Killer to get the party hoppin'. The CIA crew (there is now a finger sign, so I think we can call them a crew) led off kinda mellow with Jenny singing Built To Spill's You Were Right, Madison taking Belle & Sebastian's The State I Am In and Kyle bringing the Velvet Underground's Who Loves The Sun. New guy David also started chill with The Passenger by Iggy Pop, but Pete (the vegan) was around to bring the volume up with Fugazi's Smallpox Champion and things stayed a little louder through the rest of the night. I fought with volume the whole night, trying to make it loud enough to rock but not so loud that the Nomad's neighbors would call the cops. I've seen cops just waiting for drunks outside Nomad before, so I know they wouldn't hesitate to answer a noise complaint, but I guess I did a good enough job because the show went all the way up until 2.

We had a lot of returning singers this night, a lot of them singing new songs! Pete (the vegan) tried his hand at Love Will Tear Us Apart and started to keep a lot of the people at the private birthday party inside out on the patio. Adam sang Archers Of Loaf's Harnessed In Slums as classic as ever, but then branched out to Alone Again Or by Love later on with fantastic results! Nicole & Ann from Veronica's house parties showed up and sang throughout the night, from Liz Phair to Sonic Youth to backing up Jenny on Prayer To God. John G tried his hand at Constructive Summer and rocked it with Skipper on backup, while Skipper & John's wife Emily sang Rilo Kiley for the first time. Skipper also got everybody involved with Common People before his crew had to take off. I don't remember when I saw Eric & Ashley before, but they were great to hear back on the mic with Eric singing Chips Ahoy! and Country House, and Ashley getting in Gigantic and Debaser to sate her Pixies lust before they had to take off. Jo H sang her excellent renditions of Cat Power and Sleater-Kinney while Gerard debuted Suspect Device and finished off the night with XTC and The Jim Carroll Band. Esme got her Teenage Kicks with some friends, and Elana brought a friend to back her up on Parentheses by The Blow. Ish from Coma sang for the first time too, the song that he requested: Final Solution by Pere Ubu. That's a fucking rad song.

Lots of brand new singers too! Besides "Dexter," Madison and Jenny, Kyle really distinguished himself with four songs, including Take The Skinheads Bowling, Sweet Jane and a rendition of Joey Ramone's Wonderful World in the style of Louis Armstrong. Completely new guy Mike was awesome, singing Head On, Punk Rock Girl and Worked Up So Sexual, and other completely new guy David was equally amazing with I Am A Scientist in addition to Iggy Pop. Hillary crooned the T. Rex and then Joan Jett, and a guy named Chris brought the rock with GBV's I Am A Tree, It's Gonna Be A Long Night by Ween and joined in a bunch of other people's tracks. Will was surprised that Motor Away was still available, and he took full advantage. Laurie gave us the opportunity to show off the Muppet footage in Don't Worry About The Government, and Alison got in a fine version of Ziggy Stardust. Melissa got there late but impressed in a duet of We're Desperate with Gerard and solo on Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out. Elana's friends Jennifer and Daniel were even later, but I got them in with Daniel singing Hope by The Descendents and Jennifer singing (by my request) Voxtrot's Mothers Sisters Daughters & Wives. Tracy was another new singer who brought the party with Joy Division's Transmission and then Gone Daddy Gone.

A good solid night, but I think I like it better inside. We'll have the stage back from now on, every First Saturday at the Nomad Bar. See you February 7th!